A new plot strain begins with a move by Mishil's faction to corner the grain market. One thing I learned about monarchies in reading up on the French revolution is that the price of the staple food is central to a nation. If the price of wheat, and consequently bread, hadn't risen in France, the French Revolution might not have happened.
In Queen Seon Deok, the nobles are cornering the grain market to gain new land. The way it works is this: the nobles practice usury on the side, with many borrowers among small farmers and shareholders whose lives are more difficult. When the price of staple food items goes up, the smaller farmers and shareholders are forced to spend more money on food, meaning that they will have to borrow more just to eat while being unable to pay their debts. Since the smaller farmers' land is used as collateral, the nobles gain more land. Additionally, since shareholders only have their lives as assets, they are forced to become slaves to nobles if they can't pay back the money.
There's a terrific scene where Deokman confronts Mishil about the nobles cornering the grain market. Mishil tells Deokman "You are a shameless person." Deokman counters, "Yes, there has always been that quality about me." Terrific dialogue.
Deokman, using trade knowledge gained growing up on the Silk Road, counters trade manipulation with more trade manipulation. She floods the market with staples from the royal stock, forcing the price to go down. While some of the nobles are wealthy enough to withstand the prices going down, the nobles with less wealth are afraid to lose everything and rush to sell what they bought at inflated prices at lower prices.
Now, I am reminded of the sad state of economics in the U.S.? Watching that manipulation of the market, I couldn't help but think of the housing bubble and the consequent rush to sell stocks by traders as soon as they realized that their own actions had caused an artificially inflated value of U.S. wealth:
I will end my political asides there.
On a lighter note, although Chun Chu is wove lightly throughout this episode, I would like to mention him as he will most likely grow to be an important character. Yu Shin steps down as Chun Chu's martial arts instructor and hands him over to Bidam. It's perfect! The two are well-matched in cunning and manipulation. Prince Chun Chu pretends he can't remember anything while remembering every single thing; he pretends to be only interested in being a playboy while observing all actions around him. Bidam also is more than he appears: an excellent swordsman who dresses and acts nonchalantly; a son of Mishil who hides his lineage even from Mishil who doesn't what happened to the child she threw away. Both encourage people around them to underestimate them.
No comments:
Post a Comment